At the present time when carrying out hemodialysis operations, various blood lines and associated plastic tubings are clamped with various surgical clamps made of stainless steel. There are between six and eight clamps used per patient and these clamps must be replaced on a regular bases due to breakage, loss or misappropriation at considerable cost. Accordingly, a need exists for an inexpensive reuseable clamp which will be effective for clamping blood lines and associated plastic tubings in use during hemodialysis operations.
Various forms of reuseable clamps which have been designed for different purposes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,713,622, 3,766,925, 3,825,012, 3,874,042 and 4,038,726. However, these previously known forms of clamps are either not particularly well adapted for use in conjunction with hemodialysis blood lines and associated plastic tubes, or they are expensive to produce and/or cumbersome to use.